Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just discovered that if you put soil on great stuff it stays on top when it dries.... could i just spray a giant great stuff background and mix it with soil to provide a natural look?

It doesn't stick too well in my experience, and if you touch it while the Great Stuff is still sticky, Ohhmygod, what a mess you can make of yourself as well as the Great Stuff. About all I've managed to do is to toss a few pebbles into it while it was expanding.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

Dendrobates: auratus blue, auratus Ancon Hill, tinctorius azureus, leucomelas. Phyllobates: vittatus, terribilis, lugubris. Epipedobates: anthonyi tricolor pasaje. Ranitomeya fantastica, imitator, reticulata. Adelphobates castaneoticus, galactonotus. Oophagia pumilio Bastimentos. (updated systematic nomenclature)

Yah.. the only reason i was considering using great stuff alone in some parts of my background was because the oak bark isn't a perfect rectangle so i dont know what i will do for the spaces.....in the mean time I've figured out a way to fit more plants.. i found a curled piece of bark and i plan to glue it to the background then put soil in it part and plant a few more broms and my creeping fig....eventually it would be nice for the entire background to be covered in tiny little oak leaf creeping fig leaves, my viv is going to take forever to grow into itself though

my viv is going to take forever to grow into itself though

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------It will take less time than you may think. The oak leaf creeping fig, (Ficus pumila quercifolia) will indeed cover your entire background. I have several tanks in which it forms a solid wall of leaves. If not controlled, it will also grow all over the glass. I think it is one of the most useful background covering plants there is, as it still allows bromes and incidental ferns to grow through it. My cork bark backgrounds almost always grow some kind of epiphytic ferns "spontaneously." These are of two distinct species, but I have no idea exactly what they are.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

Dendrobates: auratus blue, auratus Ancon Hill, tinctorius azureus, leucomelas. Phyllobates: vittatus, terribilis, lugubris. Epipedobates: anthonyi tricolor pasaje. Ranitomeya fantastica, imitator, reticulata. Adelphobates castaneoticus, galactonotus. Oophagia pumilio Bastimentos. (updated systematic nomenclature)

Here's a couple of photos of the oak leaf creeping fig, covering a background, and the plain variety growing up the Malaysian drift wood with some moss and oak leaf var. on ground.

You can see some of the little ferns that grown on the cork bark in the first photo.

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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

Dendrobates: auratus blue, auratus Ancon Hill, tinctorius azureus, leucomelas. Phyllobates: vittatus, terribilis, lugubris. Epipedobates: anthonyi tricolor pasaje. Ranitomeya fantastica, imitator, reticulata. Adelphobates castaneoticus, galactonotus. Oophagia pumilio Bastimentos. (updated systematic nomenclature)

wow i love the way that looks your viv looks real nice

Very nice plants. Your set up looks like piece of nature.
What type bulbs do you use as far as brands go , I assume flourescent bulbs ?

Thanks

These two tanks, both 20 gallon tall, just have 20W fluorescent bulbs (6700K range) in an aquarium type reflector hood just placed on top of the glass. This is fine for low-light requiring plants, such as the Ficus, Pellionia, moss, etc. that you see. But if you will notice, the bromeliads are simply plain green, although they are Neoregelia hybrids and should be highly colorful with red and orange with variegations. While they survive, they will neither color up or bloom. So if you want colorful bromes, orchids or other light requiring plants, you need something stronger.

Here's a photo of something I've been trying out lately on some of my larger tanks. This one is a Sunpaq duo that has 2 double fluorescent bulbs. One in the 6700K range, which is the most efficient spectrum for plants, and a penetrating 10,000K actinic that gives out more lumens and will penetrate deeply into aquarium water, etc., although plants don't utilize much of this spectrum, so it's rather a waste of energy. I don't like the blue cast it gives to the tanks, so have been replacing these with another duo 6700K for more "full spectrum white light." One of the nice things about these packages is they come with the attachable legs for elevating the light somewhat and a some models have a fan for dispersing heat. One of the problems with the aquarium reflector strips is the tendency to heat up the tanks more than desirable. There is also an LED "moonlight" feature, which I should think would be nice for tanks with nocturnal amphibians.

This is a 30" long 65W setup, with claims of putting out 3X's more light than ordinary fluorescents. I also have two 36" 96W duo strips over a 180 gallon paludarium. These are adequate for growing flowering tropicals such as orchids, coloring up bromeliads and keeping other growth compact. In low light, vines will scraggle around and reach for light rather than shingle and overlap.

The light in the photo is over a newly set up 55 long with cuttings just starting, so it barely appears planted at this point. The corny background is an aquarium poster I just propped between the glass and light cords that dangle down the back temporarily, until I think of something else to do to hide them. I didn't want to build a full background inside this particular tank because I'm thinking of doing something like building a shallow shadow box with something that seems to extend the dimensions to put outside the glass, but haven't got it figured out yet.

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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

Dendrobates: auratus blue, auratus Ancon Hill, tinctorius azureus, leucomelas. Phyllobates: vittatus, terribilis, lugubris. Epipedobates: anthonyi tricolor pasaje. Ranitomeya fantastica, imitator, reticulata. Adelphobates castaneoticus, galactonotus. Oophagia pumilio Bastimentos. (updated systematic nomenclature)

Okay 6700k bulb thats what I wanted to know granted more light they would grow more but the spectrum (couldnt think of word at time) was my question. Thanks

Have you considered simply using 1 or 2 dome lights cheap types sold at home depot/lowes with energy saver floursecent bulbs they have 23 watt types that equal 60 watts in light or think 12 watt types that equal 40 watts.

They carry the 6700 k bulbs infact even cheaper GE plant bulbs sold there are 6700k . Granted you can just add another bulb or dual light strip .

Thanks again going to get the spectrum as setting up golden mantella tank but ofcourse need to plant it prior to getting them

Luis